THE SQUASH-BUG. 



COREID^E 



The Squash-bug family is an extensive one. Most of 

 the species have an unpleasant odor, and there is a tendency 

 to have the edges of the abdomen raised so that the wings 

 lie in a depression. 



Anasa 



The Squash-bug (Plate XXVI) is known 

 to most gardeners who have grown any 

 of the squash family. Its chief claim to 

 scientific fame is that it was used prominently in the 

 development of our present knowledge concerning the 

 germinal relations of sex. The pronotum and the thick- 

 ened parts of the front wings are speckled brown, the side- 

 margins of the pronotum are yellowish; the hind femora 

 do not bear a row of spines. Adults spend the winter, 

 as well as the summer nights, under rubbish. The oval, 

 pale-yellow to dark eggs are laid in irregular clusters, usually 

 on the under side of leaves. The young are rather gregari- 

 ous and gay with their crimson legs, head, and front part of 

 thorax, but these change to black as they grow. In the 

 North the adult stage is reached about August. 



The following rough notes may be helpful in the North- 

 east. A brownish species about .4 in. long, without a 

 row of spines on the hind femora, but with a leaf-like 

 expansion on each antenna, is probably Chariesterus 

 antennator . Species of the largely predaceous Alydus 

 are usually fully .5 in. long, slender and have a row of 

 spines on the hind femora. The following are usually 

 more than .6 in. long and have spines on the hind femora: 

 Archimerus and Euthochtha galeator have more or less 

 cylindrical hind tibiae; Acanthocephala and Leptoglossus 

 have leaf-like expansions of the hind tibias. 



PENTATOMID^E 



The name of Stink-bugs has been fastened on this family, 

 possibly because some of the species are responsible for 

 giving raspberries a bad, smelly taste once in awhile. 

 Another name is Shield-bugs, on account of the large 

 scutellum. Psyche, Vol. XXII, contains a synopsis of the 

 family with keys to the New England species by Parshley. 



8 113 



